Clasp



July 3, 1934. a FRE|TAG 1,965,116

CLASP Filed July 17, 1935 INVENTOR LG- 5 LAWP ENCE B. FREITAG 49% & W

ATTORNEYS Patented July 3, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLASP Application July 1'7, 1933, Serial No. 680,680

5 Claims.

My invention relates to clasps and particularly a clasp for belts. It is an object of this invention to provide a more secure clasp, which will neither break apart nor come unfastened inadvertently.

Further objects are to provide a more simple, secure, attractive, and generally improved device of the class described.

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a perspective view of the two halves of the clasp, showing them separated, the shields being shown in phantom on the near side;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section showing the parts in fastened relation; and

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section showing the parts in position for coupling or uncoupling.

My clasp consists essentially of two parts, a hook member and an eye member. Preferably, each of these has a shield member attached thereto, which performs the triple service of covering the actually interlocking parts for ornamentation, assisting in preventing disengagement of those parts, and serving as handles for the manipulation thereof.

Reference character 2 indicates the hook member of my new clasp. Member 2 is made of a fiat strip of metal. It is narrowed at one end into a tongue which is turned over to form a hook 4, extending back approximately parallel to strip 2 and slightly spaced therefrom. This leaves shoulders 5 at the point of narrowing. At the other end, strip 2 is widened to provide a belt loop eye portion 6 which contains a transverse slot 8. This eye portion is bent back at an angle of 45 degrees or so with respect to the main portion of strip 2,

' extending out to the same side as hook 4. A fabric, leather, or other belt has one end 28 thereof secured to member 2 by being passed through slot 8 and there fastened.

Reference character 10 designates the eye, or hook-receiving, member of the device. Member 10 is made of a fiat strip of metal, and has at one end a belt loop eye portion 12 with transverse slot 14, similar to its mate 6, and similarly bent back at an angle. The other end of the belt is looped through slot 14 and there fastened in any desired way.

At its other end, the member 10 has an eye portion 16, provided with a transverse slot 18 to receive hook 4, and of substantially the same length as the width of hook 4. This eye portion 16 is bent back along the inner edge of slot 18 to an angle of about degrees, extending to the same side of strip 10 as does belt loop eye member 12.

A pair of members 22, 24, constituting at once handles, coacting stops, covers, and ornaments, and which will be herein referred to as shields, make up the front face of the clasp. These members 22, 24 are fastened to the fronts of strips 2 and 10, as by stampingswallow-tail points 26 out of the strips and driving or forcing same into the shield members, which may be of a synthetic composition material, such as the materials known under the trade names of Galalite, Catalin, Celluloid, and the like.

I preferably form the shields of a material which will be softened or rendered plastic by heating, as, for example, celluloid.

After they are formed, I heat them, as by immersing them in hot water, and then drive or force the points 26 into them to fasten together the shield members and the clasp members 2 and 10. Because of my construction in which the pull of the belt is not transmitted through the shields, I can safely fasten them on in this way.

The relation of the strips and the shields is preferably such that the curl of the tongue 4, and part of opening 18 in member 10 extend beyond the ends of the shields.

The clasp members constructed as described can be snapped or coupled together by holding them about at right angles with the rear faces thereof toward each other and inserting tongue 4 into eye slot 18, and then moving the hook member across the plane of the eye member in a direction generally from the front face toward the rear face thereof until hook 4 is fully inserted in slot 18, whereupon the clasp can assume the flat position of Fig. 2. It can be uncoupled by the reverse process.

When the hook member 2 and the eye member 10 have thus been coupled together, tension on the belt pulls the clasp out approximately flat. If then the ends of the belt are pushed, or allowed to move, directly toward each other, the hook cannot slip out of the slot because shoulders 5 abut against the face of eye portion 16, and are held from sliding off it by the abutting of edge 20 against the inner face of hook 4.

The end of shield 24 acts as a further stop to hook 4 to prevent direct endwise uncoupling. Thus, even if eye portion 16 in member 10 were to be pulled or otherwise bent out fiat with relation to the rest of member 10, the shield 24 would still prevent accidental uncoupling from straight endwise movement. The clasp cannot be uncoupled in any event unless it is first pivoted about the point of juncture to at least the degree shown in Fig. 3.

Since the outer edges of eye members 6 and 12 are angled back out of line with the hook and eye joint, tension on the ends of the belt will tend to pull the central joint of the clasp into this line. But the abutting of shoulders 5 against the face of eye member 16, and the cooperative abutting of the outer edge of eye member 16 on the inner face of tongue 4, provide a stop to keep the clasp from being able to bend in at the center. The inner edges of the shield members also abut to act as further stop means, and thus they also prevent any end play. Thus, tension on the clasp keeps it at one exact position, and rubbing, wearing, squeaking, and scraping are eliminated.

The facts that the belt loop eye portions are bent back and that the clasp is arranged so that it cannot bend back in the center beyond a straight line give the result that there is a bridge between the end loops of the belt, thus holding the tongue 4 and eye portion 16 out from being pressed hard against the body, which would be uncomfortable to the wearer.

The two strips 2 and 10, being fastened together and having the belt fastened to the remaining ends thereof, take the tension direct, and no pull is transmitted through the shields 22, 24. This means that the shields need not be fastened on with so much care and expense, and even if they should fall off, the belt would still be held clasped.

The bends in the three eye members 6, l2, and 16 furthermore impart a small amount of springy give to the clasp, which, on occasion, may be just enough to save it from snapping under a heavy strain.

It will be understood that I am not limited to my specific disclosure, which is illustrative only.

I claim:

1. In a clasp, a first member having an integral bent back portion near each end and having a transverse slot along one bent back end portion whereby the end of a belt or the like is to be secured by being passed through the slot and looped about the outer frame portion surrounding same, the other bent back end portion of said first member being a tongue and being bent back in the neighborhood of 180, a second member having an integral portion bent back near each end and having a transverse slot along each bent back end portion, one of said slots being of a size suitable for receiving the tongue on the first member, the other being for securing the second end of the belt or the like in the same manner as the slot for the first end.

2.- A belt clasp as defined in claim 1 in which a first shield member is secured to the face of the first member and a second shield member is secured to the face of the second member, the edges of said shield members abutting when the clasp members are hooked together and the hook and eye joint is spaced to the shield side of the line joining the belt end fastening points.

3. A clasp having two separate parts, one of said parts having an end portion bent back, and having a transverse opening along said bent portion, and a tongue on the other of said parts of a width to fit in said opening and doubled back on itself, means for fastening a belt end directly on the ends of the said parts opposite their interengaging ends, a shield member fastened to the front face of each of the said parts, said shields and the fastenings therefor being independent of the means for fastening the belt ends to the said parts, said shields being so disposed as to abut each other and act as stops to limit pivotal movement of one part forwardly with respect to the other.

4. A clasp consisting of an integral hook member to which one end of a belt is to be fastened, an integral eye member to receive said hook and to which the other end of the belt is to be fastened, points stamped out of each of the hook and the eye m mbers, a shield of softer material than the points fastened to each of the hook and the eye members by having the points driven thereinto.

5. A clasp comprising a hook member having a narrowed end portion bent back about 180 and spaced slightly from the hook member to form a hook, an enlarged portion at the other end of said hook member having a transverse slot therein to receive an end of a belt and being bent back about 45, to the same side as the hook, an eye member having an eye portion at one end bent back about 15, a transverse slot in said eye portion of a size to receive the above-mentioned hook, an enlarged portion at its other end bent back about 45 to the same side and having a transverse slot therein to receive the other end of the belt, points struck out from each of said hook member and said eye member to the opposite side from that to which the end portions are bent back, a shield member secured to each of said hook member and said eye member by being driven onto said points, said shield members so spaced as to abut each other when the clasp is coupled and the belt is stretched out.

LAWRENCE B. FREITAG. 

